I love this movie so much

To me, this movie is perfection.

Powerful

Brilliant and touching

...Not that it needed to, but if your movie is 2 hours 32 minutes long, then, well, I suppose something really interesting ought to develop. "A Christmas Tale" has an intriguing if well trodden premise - a family coming together for Christmas, to find the cancer-stricken mum a suitable bone marrow donor - but in spite of scenes which promise much, the whole movie doesn't really take off. People will argue that life is precisely that, very nonresolving and a series of tableaux, but the short cuts and staccato editing make this tale harder to enjoy than most. Not to mention so many issues which are left hanging in midair, other than the director nudging us "C'est la vie". You'd be hard pressed to understand why little gets developed to reach something of a climax.So the sister, at the end of the film, probably goes on hating his second brother without really understanding herself; the youngest brother allows his wife to sleep with his cousin, who had been carrying a torch for her over the years. That said, the acting all round is excellent, a well rehearsed cast including the ageless Catherine Deneuve, characters who are fleshed out decently, but who'd really remember a series of interminable scenes which doesn't exactly coalesce into an artistic whole? As an intimate family drama it's certainly too long at 152 minutes.

A long drawn-out tale of a father bringing his dysfunctional family together at Christmas after Mom is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. The actors are in fine form, and the situations are realistic, but there is scene after scene of bones to pick, icy silence, and family members constantly telling each other (over and over) how much they like don't them. In addition, all of the characters have individual scenes with each other: mother and son, mother and daughter, mother and son's girlfriend, father and cousin, father and daughter, grandson and.... etc., etc., etc. I had some head-scratching moments too where major insults and fights in which I expected a full dramatic blow-up were met with a smirk or complete indifference. If it were slashed in half, (well, at least by a third), this film could have been just as effective.

The problem with Desplechin's films is also what makes me love them, i.e. their mental-ness. I mean it's so mental that you sometimes doubt such messed-up families can exist. Cold mother who has never really loved any of her children, except maybe the dead one (and would she have loved him if he had lived?). Absolutely neurotic daughter who made her family banish her brother but never seems to wonder if maybe she messed up her own son's education. Obnoxious banned brother who enjoys to be able to save her mother to regain power over his sister and his mother. Obnoxious but so relevant sometimes. The youngest one and the cousin are less mental, it's true. Except for the fact that, younger, they decided between them and the obnoxious brother who should have the girl who would become the youngest one's wife. And the father who just does nothing but watching his family fighting without reacting. I am really not sure we could find a family so dysfunctioning. There is obviously real worse families but they just fall apart and don't stick together. This one is actually functioning by dysfunctioning. Anyway, all this obnoxiousness is jubilation material if you enjoy irreverence and boldness. And is played by a wonderful Catherine Deneuve and a never disappointing (except in James Bond) Mathieu Amalric. Emmanuelle Devos makes a short apparition which is of her usual talent, too. Some usual Desplechin hence, quite addressed to a particular type of people, quite snob, maybe elitist, but so amusing.

After matriarch Junon is diagnosed with a potentially terminal illness her family comes together at Christmas in the hopes of putting things right.I've explained that badly, which is fine since I doubt there is any way I can truly do justice to this wonderful film about families, how they make us crazy, how they help us along and how life kind of gets in the way. I loved the way that about a half hour into the film I knew I was going to have to watch this again because I was simply enjoying it so much. Never mind that the film has a great deal going on that I simply didn't catch (Thank you IFC in Theaters on Demand for making it possible to do so with out breaking the bank). This is a magical movie its worth the effort to see.I have to say I love that Catherine Deneuve, a babe if there ever was (and is one) is married to Jean-Paul Roussillon, a small squat almost troll like man. You watch the two together and there is such love and ease and magic between them that the pairing is utterly perfect. Their pairing makes absolute sense, more than most romantic pairing that the movies have ever shown us. Its brilliant, and its just a small element of a film that gets adults and families right. To be certain its idealized in many ways but the film still feels wonderfully real.Its just a great film from top to bottom, with a great script, a great look (and sound) and a cast that is as good as it gets.See this film, it's one of the better films of the years and I can't stop talking about it.